First time in Cape Breton? Start here.

If you're visiting Cape Breton for the first time, you're in for the best kind of trip — the kind where the drives are as good as the destinations and the people you meet at the next table become recommendations for tomorrow.

Three days

Drive the Cabot Trail. Do it counter-clockwise so the ocean views are on your right. Sleep in Ingonish night one and Chéticamp night two. Hike the Skyline Trail, eat a lobster roll at the Rusty Anchor, and end Saturday at the Doryman in Chéticamp.

Five days

Add Baddeck and Bras d'Or Lake. Visit the Bell Museum, take a sunset sail on the Amoeba, and have dinner at the Yellow Cello. If you golf, this is the night to play Bell Bay.

A full week

You can split the rest between Inverness (golf at Cabot, beach time, dinner at the Red Shoe in Mabou) and Louisbourg (a full day at the Fortress, a night at Point of View Suites).

Don't skip

A ceilidh — any ceilidh. The fiddle music isn't a tourist show, it's how people here actually spend their evenings. Saturday afternoon at the Doryman is the easy way in.